venerdì 26 settembre 2014

Beat VS clickbait

As the Robert Pattinson/FKA Twigs paparazzi photography somewhat disturbingly suggest, retreating behind a shell of privacy and hoping to let one’s work do most of the talking may be a losing battle in this ultra-mediatized world. The trope of faceless, anonymous producer that proliferated in independent music a few years ago (think: How to Dress Well, Evian Christ) doesn’t really hold any water in the age where most fans watch festival shows through the viewfinders on their iPhone screens; it feels like a false conceit, which is maybe what Burial was getting at when he finally decided to share a selfie of his face earlier this year. [...]
In a mainstream music ecosystem that has become increasingly receptive to avant-garde sounds—to the point where it seems to embrace any statement that might possibly have previously antagonized it—navigating the press may be less of a necessary chore than a site of creative possibility, a means of disrupting the system while simultaneously exposing its inner workings. In an era where music and cult of personality have become one, it might even be the most exciting political frontier.